Helixed Productions represent the projects of Hugo Race in various collaborations - with the True Spirit, Dirtmusic, Sepiatone, Merola Matrix, Transfargo, Wreckery, Between Hemispheres and the We Create Tomorrow and Patriots/Collaborators projects. Our sonic identity merges electronic and acoustic sounds in explorative ways and aims to develope new projects and collaborations while providing a virtual portal to carry the results into the worldwide loop - audio, mixed media, word and image.

Sunday, January 6, 2008

In the new year of 2007, three reknowned musicians – each of them with a long history in the alternative scene of rock music - decided to form a new band together. Their vision of this band was to strip back their music to the bare essentials and rediscover the original folk music which was the source of their inspiration.

Using acoustic instruments - guitars, dobro, banjo, harmonium, melodica, foot percussion and harmony vocals - Dirtmusic made a European tour to develop their sound and material at the end of which they recorded their debut album in the Sono studio in Prague for the German independent label Glitterhouse Records. This self-titled album (“Dirtmusic”) will be released Europe-wide in November 2007.

The Dirtmusic sound evokes the landscapes of the artists’ origins: the pacific north-west USA (Chris Eckman), southern Australia (Hugo Race) and the atlantic north-east USA (Chris Brokaw). All three are or have been expatriates and have travelled widely around the world with their various music projects. Drawing on the folk music traditions of these ex-frontier societies, Dirtmusic tell stories of individuals searching for orientation in the urban wilderness of a ‘new’ world. Melodies are drawn from blues and folk, but refashioned through the life experience and musical journeys of this international trio.

Gusstaff Records, Poland’s premier electronic and alternative label, proudly announce this new DVD package focussing on Hugo & True Spirit’s work on stage, on video and in the studio from 2001 until 2006.

It contains ‘Live in Warsaw’, filmed and recorded by Polish national television during the 2006 ‘Taoist Priests’ Tour, showcasing the band at the CDQ club in the intensive final week of a 65-date European odyssey.

“Ghosting the Cities” is a roadmovie directed by Nico Mansy during the “Long Time Ago” European Tour in 2001, and besides containing classic live footage from shows in Berlin and Prague, gives a candid, behind-the-scenes glimpse of the band’s modus operandi, as well as an insight into Hugo’s parallel “Transfargo” project.

The Collected Videos contain 9 videos from the albums “Goldstreet Sessions” (2003), “Ambuscado” (2005) and “Taoist Priests” (2006), including LSD is Dead, Into the Void and the previously unreleased Heretic.

Hugo Race is a prolific and visionary performer, musician, writer and producer from Melbourne, Australia. Hugo defies any easy label and has staked out a creative territory totally his own between rock, experimental and psychedelia. He also writes screenplays and non-fiction.

First introduced to the international stage as a founding member of Nick Cave’s Bad Seeds (he appears on the debut, “From Her to Eternity”, and features on several other Bad Seed’s cds and various compilations), Hugo then founded the seminal Australian art-punk cult band The Wreckery (1985), released through the White/Hot, Rampant, Citadel and Normal labels. A Wreckery compilation,”Past Imperfect”, was released in 2008 through Memorandum/Fuse Records, (Sydney ) and a national reunion tour followed.

In early 1989 Hugo moved base to Berlin, and Normal Records (Germany) released his debut solo album “Rue Morgue Blues” as the Wall fell, a fact reflected in Hugo’s frequently politically-inspired lyrics. So began two decades based in Europe and the production of 13 Hugo Race & True Spirit albums, the latest of which “53rd State” was released in Australia (Spooky Records) and Europe (Glitterhouse Records) in 2008 to rave reviews.

Currently, Hugo is immersed in preproduction for his feature film project "We Create Tomorrow"......

Some of Hugo’s other music projects include:

Dirtmusic together with Chris Eckman (The Walkabouts) and Chris Brokaw (Come, Codeine), with whom Hugo performed recently at the Festival au Desert in Mali, Africa, later returning to Mali to record the Dirtmusic album BKO with Tuareg band Tamikrest - release date April 19, 2010 (Glitterhouse Records)

Hugo recently recorded with the the Denver (USA) based band Lilium, together with Pascal Humbert (Woven Hand, 16 Horsepower) - their collaboration 'FELT', will be released by Glitterhouse Records in May 2010

In addition, Hugo has acted, scored and written for several feature films (Ghosts of the Civil Dead, Forbidden Lies, Queen of the Damned, Dogs in Space, In Too Deep, etc.), sung avant-guard contemporary experimental music at the Sydney Opera House (The Hanging of Jean Lee), had his writings published in magazines such as Australia's Overland literary journal and composed and acted for the theatre.

“Both alone with a guitar or with his True Spirit, Hugo has toured Europe repeatedly, performing on a vast trajectory from the UK to Greece and was literally one of the first western “underground” acts performing inside the ex- eastern bloc European territories after the fall of the Wall. He has followed a personal musical vision in a series of mutating line-ups that have fused the boundaries between the "primal" (roots) blues and raw electronica - described by London Sounds as "night music of the soul", and by Melody Maker as "industrial-trance-blues". “ (Ludger Kordt, KGB, Germany)

“The stripped to the bone sound of the True Spirit exercises a fascination not exactly reassuring, yet magnetic in its evocation of obscure dangers. Music from the wild side of the street – or better, like walking blind in a war-zone…” (- Gianluca Testani, Mucchio Selvaggio)